The War of Tamriel
by Silentwings25
Summary: A confused wood elf woman and is captured by the imperials and sentenced to death. But then a dragon attacks and destroys Helgen and sends the woman on an adventure where she will meet foes, friends and explore the province of Skyrim and other places on Tamriel.
1. Prologue

Sorry if spelling is a little off I type this on an iPad mini because I don't own a computer so forgive me.

As the female wood elf slowly returned to consciousness she lifted her gaze to the man sitting in front of her. The sun glared her eyes so she could not get a good look at him, as she attempted to raise her hand to block the the sun she realized her hands were bound.

"Damn", she spoke under her breath loud enough for the man in front of her to hear. "Hey, you're finally awake, walked right into that ambush same as us and that thief over there", he pointed out with a move of his head towards a nord in rags sitting next to him. The thief replied in an angered tone "Damn you Stormcloaks, Skyrim was fine until you came along!" he shouted "Empire was nice and lazy." Stormcloaks, Who were the Stormcloaks? "What's wrong with him?" he asked gesturing towards a man who gagged sitting next to the woman.

"Shut up back there!" the imperial carriage driver shouted and they were quiet for a time until they got passed the gates and the man across from her grumbled angrily "Look at him! General Tullius, the military governor. Looks like the Thalmor are with him.

"Damn elves, I bet they had something to do this."

The cart pulled to a stop a few minutes later and the thief asked in a frightened tone "Why are we stopping?" the man replied, "Why do you think? End of the line." The thief was almost to tears and said like a little child "No this isn't happening this isn't happening!"

"Face your death with some courage horse thief."

The blonde man, the one who sat in front of her had a small smirk on his face at the thief's fear of death.

"Step up to the block, one at a time!" the imperial captain shouted.

"Empire loves their damn lists" The blond man mumbled.

The imperial soldier next to the captain began reading out names of the prisoners.

"Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm"

"It has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric" the blond man said as Ulfric trudged to the group of prisoners near the headsman's block.

"Ralof of Riverwood" the soldier said and the man trudged off silently.

"Lokir of Rorikstead"

"Please I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!" the man said before shoving into the imperial captain and running towards a gate.

"Archers!" the imperial captain shouted and two men drew their bow and fired an arrow into the back of each of the man's legs sending him tumbling and breaking his neck due to the fact his hands were bound.

"Anyone else feel like running?" The captain shouted.

_Hmm, you're about to cut off my head.. Yes I feel like running. You bastards_, the Bosmer woman thought though she didn't dare say it.

A voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "Wait, Who are you?" the soldier asked due to her name not being on the list.

"Althel Nightshade, from Silvenar"

The young Bosmer woman was indeed beautiful she had medium length hair in a ponytail and she had light skin for a wood elf, blue eyes along with a small nose and her lips were set in a straight line due to the fact she was about to be executed for crossing the border into Skyrim illegally. She only did so because she had been under the rule of the Thalmor, which were allied with wood elves but her captors had cared about that, they thought the Altmer were superior to all races and did not need allies.

"Hmm seems here you are not on the list. What do we do captain? She's not on the list.

"Forget the list she goes to the block."

_Bastards_, she gave an evil glare to the captain and wanted to let loose a flame spell she had picked up along her travels, yet her hands were bound rendering that idea useless.

She slowly trudged to the area where the rest of the prisoners were and saw Ralof to her right, her eyes filled with fear he moved his lips saying "It's okay, Gods know they are wrong". She hoped he was right

"Ulfric Stormcloak, some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the voice to murder his king and usurp his throne." General Tullius sounded very happy to have the leader of the Stormcloak rebellion as a prisoner.

A distant yet loud screech made everyone look up. "It's nothing carry on." Tullius ordered.

"Yes General Tullius".

"Give them their last rites" the captain ordered the priest.

"As we commend your souls to atherieus, blessings of the eight divines upon-"

"For the love of Talos shut up and let's get this over with" a Stormcloak soldier walked towards the block.

"As you wish" the priest remarked angrily.

"Come on I don't have all morning"

_No you really don't_, thought Althel, trying to hide a small grin at the nords impatience, a voice interrupted her thoughts, "My ancestors are smiling upon me imperials can you say the same?"

The captain pushed the rebel down with her boot and the headsman brought his axe up and back down and Althel turned away for she already knew what awaited her eyes.

"Next the wood elf!" said the imperial captain

_No! Please no... Let it be quick.._ She thought as she reluctantly walked towards the block.

She felt the captains boot on her back push her down with her head facing the headsman.

Something flew towards the tower behind him, it was big, very big.

When the shape landed on the watchtower it turned its neck to the sky and shouted into the heavens. It started raining flaming rocks and all hell broke loose.

"Dragon!" A stormcloak woman cried out.

"Guards get the townspeople to safety!" ordered Tullius, it was chaos.

"Hey wood elf, get up! The gods won't give us another chance!" Ralof shouted over at Althel.

A noise emanated from the dragon' it had black spikes with long claws and sharp teeth, it looked like death.

_Oh shit_ thought Althel_ This is how I die.. a damned dragon out of children's legends and folk tales?_

"FUS" "Kill that thing!" "RO DAH" and the imperials were thrown backwards.

Althel was running towards the watchtower when she felt a searing pain in her right leg, she almost fell but Ralof caught her. During the chaos they escaped into the watchtower to find Ulfric no longer gagged and discussing what was going on out there with Ralof.

"Jarl Ulfric what is that thing? Could the legends be true?"

"Legends don't burn down villages."

"The hell they don't", Althel spat.

"True" said Ralof "Up through the tower lets go!"

They ran up the stairs leaving Ulfric behind when the dragon suddenly burst through the wall send rocks everywhere one hitting Althel in the right arm and leaving a somewhat deep scrape. Althel's hand were still bound so she couldn't cover it or anything.

"See that in. On the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going! I'll meet you when I can!" Althel then jumped through the roof only slightly twisting her ankle and hopped down to the first floor running outside when she heard voices.

"Hamming you need to get over here now!" The soldier who held the book said to a little boy. "That's it you're doing great." "Gunnar! Take care of the boy, I need to find General Tullius and join the defense! You, wood elf, come with me!"

"Gods guide you Hadvar" said the man apparently named Gunnar.

She followed him and obeyed when he shouted "Stay close to the wall!"

She wondered why but shortly after the dragon landed on the wall it's wings caging Althel against the wall. It flew off but not after bathing a injured soldier in flames. They eventually wound up in a courtyard where she decided to go with Ralof, she trusted them more than the imperials, besides they tried to cut off her head.

I hope you liked this chapter I enjoyed writing it. I'm new to fanfiction writing so I'm just learning and any reviews would be appreciated. Chapters 1-3 are being merged because i felt that they should be, so thats why 2 chapters are gone.


	2. Escape!

**Ok so finally got around to writing a new chapter, enjoy!**

As Althel and Ralof entered the keep Althel took a few steps before collapsing into unconsciousness. A few hours later she woke up, in a bed on the other side of the keep, she got up finding her hands were now unbound and made her way to the first room where she entered.

She looked for Ralof who she found searching a imperial captain and a soldier for a key which he later found. He didn't notice her until she spoke, "How long was I out?"

"Two hours" She nodded to him and he got up and stepped next to her, "You ok?"

"Yea I've got a few scratches and cuts here and there but I'll manage." Althel said hiding the long burn on her arm.

"What's wrong with your arm?"

"Just a little burn, it's ok."

"Let me see." She held out her arm while Ralof examined the long red burn on her arm.

"Not too serious but I wouldn't use it for awhile" he told her.

"Did you kill them?" Althel asked in a questioning tone, gesturing towards the bodies.

"Yes, let's get going, go on and take Gunjar's gear. He won't be needing it anymore."

Pointing to a body which had some of the same armor Ralof wore. She walked over to him and slipped his armor and boots off him making sure to grab the iron war axe he had.

They ventured into the keep at one point a large part of the passage collapsed and they were forced to fight the imperial soldiers in the next room looking for potions. They eventually came upon a torture room and disposed of them quickly slitting their throats with the war axes.

"Was Ulfric with you?" Ralof asked one of the Stormcloak soldiers he had saved, he unfortunately couldn't save the other man.

The other woman replied "No I haven't seen him since the dragon attack"

"Alright let's get moving before that dragon bring the whole place down on our heads, You, wood elf, look for potions."

"I have a name, it's Althel."

"Okay, Althel, look for potions."

She quickly searched around and found a few potions for health, stamina and magicka.

"Let's move" Ralof ordered.

They ran out the door and around a few hallways soon hearing voices and they killed the imperial soldiers and soon after ended up in a cave while the Stormcloak woman stayed behind to wait for Ulfric. They fought a bear and some spiders and soon emerged into the chilly weather of Skyrim.

**Enjoyed it, didn't like it? Tell me any improvements I can make, all is appreciated!**


	3. Riverwood

As Althel stepped out of the cave the cold air chilled her bare arms and pulled them together.

"Suppose we get somewhere safe? My sister runs the mill down in Riverwood, I'll meet you there." Ralof told her.

"Okay, see you there." she said pulling on some robes she picked up off a mage in the torture room.

She headed down the path and about an hour later she came across three stones, she stared at them for awhile as if she knew they had some meaning.

"The Guardian Stones, 3 of 13 standing stones that dot the landscape. Warrior, mage, thief." Ralof said pointing to each of them.

"Go ahead see for yourself." he said walking up to her.

Althel walked up to the warrior stone and place her hand on and suddenly felt stronger than she had ever felt, "Whoa... Amazing." she said in awe.

"Warrior? Good, knew I liked you for some reason."

They made their way to Riverwood and shortly after found Gerdur chopping firewood. "Gerdur!" Ralof said as he saw her.

"Brother? Mara's mercy it's good to see you, are you ok? Who's this, one of your comrades?"

"No, not yet, but a friend, she helped me escape after the dragon attacked Helgen."

"Dragon? What have you been drinking Ralof?!"

"Please Gerdur I'm not drunk, it was a dragon."

"Are you sure your not on skooma?"

"It was a dragon. It attacked helgen and killed everyone. We escaped during the chaos." Althel said and Gerdur hadn't paid her much attention since she was so quiet.

"Well, it does explain what I saw flying over the mountain."Gerdur said.

"Anywhere I can get some better armor?" Althel asked showing her ragged and burned armor.

"Yes in fact right over there is our blacksmith, Alvor." Gerdur replied.

"Thank you."

**Ok so I know that's not the real dialogue between Gerdur and Ralof but I will be added small different little twists to the story. Don't want to just read what you have been playing do you? I would appreciate feedback and support! If you liked it review it. If you hated it, review it :)**


	4. Preparations

**So I know it's been a bit since last posted a chapter so here, I'm working on this story and another one I just haven't released yet, so here's the new chapter.**

Althel quickly headed over to the blacksmith and as she arrived he commented on her armor, "Aye, you get in a fight with the whole damn Thalmor Embassy?" He chuckled.

"No I about got my ass burned off by a dragon." Althel replied with a small smile.

"You on skooma? Dragons don't exist anymore. They were killed off, gone."

"Yes but they have returned, anyway can you patch up my armor? Won't serve me any good in a fight like this."

"Yes, I can for 50 septims, it's leather like material so it won't be hard to patch up, thrown in a few extra and I can add a bit more protection."

"Sure, deal" Althel replied as she handed him 75 septims.

Althel then went to the Riverwood trader and walked in on an argument, "No, I said no! No adventures, no thief chasing and no theatrics!" a man yelled at a woman.

"Fine then then I guess you won't be getting your precious claw back" the woman replied angrily and the man growled at her and then noticed Althel "Come in come in, I don't know what you overheard but we're still good for business."

"Something happen?" Althel asked curiously.

"Uh.. Yeah we a but of a break in.. Strange they only stole one thing, a ornament made of gold in the shape of a claw."

"I'll keep an eye out." Althel then traded some of the goods she had for around 100 septims and then headed back to Alvor, who was holding her armor out to her.

"Wow it looks new. Thank you." As Althel slipped the armor on she felt thickened leather bound with strips, "This should help a lot", Althel whispered to herself as she slipped it on over her clothes and she saw Gerdur approach Althel, "The Jarl needs to know if there's a dragon on the loose, head to Whiterun and speak to him in Dragonsreach."

"Okay, I'll be back soon." Althel replied as she turned to the direction of Whiterun's location.

**Took me awhile to get out I really couldn't think of anything exciting for this chapter so sorry... Anyway I'll be hopefully posting the new story by the end of the month.**


	5. Meeting the Jarl

**Yes yes I'm a terrible person I haven't posted in awhile..**

* * *

**Meeting the Jarl**

Althel soon after found Whiterun, big city with a tall keep which towered over the city like a mountain. Althel hurried up the steps and walked into Dragonsreach, when she entered she was amazed by its size and space.

"Damn, must have taken awhile to build this place..." Althel spoke softly to herself.

"What's the meaning of this interruption?" a Dunmer's voice warned breaking Althel's train of thought, "The Jarl isn't taking visitors at the moment."

Althel snapped around to see the voice's owner, who had her sword raised at Althel. Althel's hand quickly went to her sword, and when she started pulling it out there was a voice, thick Nord accent, "Irileth calm yourself, please don't kill another of my visitors..."

"Yes my Jarl."

Althel walked up to a man who she assumed was Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, "She always like this?" Althel asked.

"No but she has been very... on edge lately." Balgruuf replied.

"I have news about Helgen." Althel told him.

"Ah good thing my housecarl didn't murder you." Irileth rolled her eyes at the Jarl.

"Uh.. Yeah sure, I guess." Althel replied

"So what happened at Helgen? We heard it was destroyed by a dragon. Strange man came in, long hair ragged blue armor said his name was ehh, Ralph? Ah Ralof yes. Told me about a Bosmer coming to see me, I would suppose that would be you?"

"Yes. Name is Althel, Althel Nightshade."

"Althel Nightshade eh? Where'd you get the last name?"

"My parents said I had almost eaten nightshade when I was little. Just kinda stuck." Althel replied her eyes tearing up at the thought of her parents, they had been murdered right infront of her. Bandits, tied her up and slowly tortured her parents to death.

"Ah interesting.. We'll send a detachment to Riverwood at once." He said motioning to Irileth.

"You prefer heavy or light armor?"Balgruuf asked.

"Light" Althel replied.

"Proventus! Grab that imperial armor in my armory and give it to the Bosmer lass." Balgruuf ordered his steward.

"Right away sir."

Five minutes later Proventus returned with a set of studded imperial armor, "Here you go, from the Jarl as a personal gift."

"Thank you" Althel replied taking it, turning to Balgruuf she asked, "Is there anything you need help with around the city?"

"Yes I'm fact, follow me let's find my court wizard, Farengar."

**Sorry for not updating for awhile haven't really thought about it so yeah, Reviews appreciated! Enjoy.**


	6. Journey to Bleaks Falls

**Been preparing for spring break so haven't had time to write anything at the moment. Vacation time= More writing time**!

The Jarl got out of seat and headed over to his court wizard's labrotory. motioning Althel over he told the wizard about Althel and how she came to help the Jarl. "So who is this Althel you speak of?" Farengar asked.

"Here she is, Althel, this is Farengar my court wizard. He has something for you to do." Balgruuf told him as she walked into the small room, it was small, with an alchemy table and an enchanter, Althel didn't know much about enchanting, but she knew a lot about alchemy.

"So what's this project your talking about?" Althel asked the wizard.

"I.. uh, learned of an ancient tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow, You retrieve it, I study it, we learn about these dragons or whatever." He explained.

"I'll let you two be." Balgruuf told them as he walked out to the main hall, Althel looked back nodding at him.

"So wheres this Beak Falls Barrow?" said Althel turning back to Farengar.

"Bleak Falls Barrow! Its near Riverwood, hard to miss." Farengar shouted at Althel angrily.

"Ok thanks Fargar." Althel said with a smirk.

"Damn elves are stupid." Farengar whispered under his breath, out of earshot. 2 hours later Althel arrived at Riverwood selling off some pelts she collect from some deer and wolves that had attacked her. She looked up to the barrow and starting walking in its direction, it was big, it stood prominent on the mountain and was easily seen from Riverwood. Althel found the path up the mountain and went up it finding a tower with bandits in it warning her to back off.

"Back off I'm warning you!" a bandit shouted at her.

Althel kept walking up the mountain and an arrow whizzed past her head startling her.

"Shit!" Althel shouted, she drew her bow, one she used for hunting, and knocked an arrow. She took aim at the archer but saw a bandit charging at her, sword drawn. She fired the arrow at the bandit, and it found its mark in the bandit's skull, the bandit's knees buckled and he fell to the ground, dead. Althel quickly knocking another arrow, this time aiming at the archer, she felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder and dropped her bow in the pain.

She fell to the ground in pain raising her shield to block any more arrows, she grasped the arrow in her shoulder and yanked it out. She screamed in pain as the arrow exited the wound, blood, more and more blood gushed from the wound. 10 seconds later, she blacked out.

**Sorry its so short I didn't have much time to write.**


	7. Into Bleak Falls

**Bored, so I decided to write today.**

Ch.9

Althel woke up surrounded by snow with a metallic smell in the air, she tried to rise up off the ground and was reminded by the pain in her shoulder that she had been shot. Tearing a piece of cloth off of her armor she tied it around the wound and drank a potion, she waited for it to take effect and when she felt better she got up and started walking back up the mountain.

She came over a little hill and saw the barrow, big and old, but infested with bandits. She hid behind a small little hill and she snuck over to the first bandit on guard, slitting his throat silently. Drawing her bow she spotted another bandit a few yards away and shot him in the neck, she went to retrieve the arrow when she heard footsteps approaching. Ducking down again she spotted the bandit, a woman clad in hide armor, _Better than my imperial armor_, Althel guessed.

She slipped her dagger out of her boot a tapped on the rock near her, "What was that?" the bandit asked herself, walking over to the spot where the sound was heard, Althel waited until the bandit was near her and lunged out, digging her dagger deep into the bandit's neck. Taking the dagger out, she wiped it on her armor, and put it back into her boot. After killing off a few more, she headed back to the dead bandit in hide armor. Quickly, she stripped the bandit of her armor and slipped hers off, shivering because of the cold she slipped the hide armor on, it fit well. She then headed into the barrow, Althel heard a conversation between two bandits about some golden claw.

She quickly hid behind a stone pillar to avoid detection. "If Arvel wants to head deeper inside, let him. If he dies it's his own stupidity." a male bandit said.

"What about the claw? I still want my share from it." A woman, this time asks.

Althel crouched low and drew her bow, the arrow landed straight in the neck of the male bandit, The woman jumped. Startled, she yelled, "Who's there?" Althel slipped on a loose sheet of rubble making a loud sound.

"I got you now!" yelled the bandit, rushing towards Althel. Althel quickly drew her dagger holding it out, blade at the bandit. The bandit came at her her greatsword over her head leaving her stomach exposed. Althel took this chance and plunged it deeply in between the bandit's ribs ending her life instantly.

"What a mess," Althel whispered to herself referring to the bloody mess on the ground in front of her. Standing up, she headed deeper into the barrow. After walking for about 10 minutes, Althel heard footsteps, peeking around a corner she saw a bandit approaching a lever. The bandit pushed the lever and poisoned darts killed him with two darts to the neck and heart.

Althel slipped down into the room, she looked to her left, seeing three pillars with the symbol of a fish, bird and snake. She looked up, finding a pattern near the ceiling, "Snake, wait what? One is missing.." She spoke to herself.

She peered down to the dead bandit, and near him lied the missing piece. _Snake snake, fish_, Althel turned the pillars and pulled the lever. She saw the door ahead open and walked in. Three skeevers attacked her but she took care of them with her sword.

Walking ahead she saw a passageway. Carefully entering it she accidentally kicked away a piece of rubble. "Bjorn, Saling? Is that you? Please I know I've done wrong in the past but I need help!" a voice said. Althel walked down into the passageway, seeing lots of spiderwebs she guessed who the host of this room was, a frostbite spider. Walking into the room she saw a giant hole in the ceiling. Spider-like legs appeared, revealing a huge wounded spider, a series of gashes along its abdomen.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter had the help of cousin at a few parts. Anyway reviews appreciated and I will try and post more often. **


	8. The Dragonstone

The war of Tamriel ch 10

**got my computer working, I can write on it now yay.I **

Slowly coming down the form the ceiling the giant spider spat its posion at Althel, making her move quickly. Instantly, she switched to the bow on her back and started firing arrow after arrow into the spiders body, making it bleed dark blue blood. The spider, too weakened to hold itself up, fell to the ground and before it got a chance to get back up, Althel drove her sword right through its head. Wiping it off, she walked over to the man in webs, tangled in them. "Oh thank you, I thought I was a dead man for sure.

"Please cut me down and I'll give you the claw." The man spoke. Althel saw a sneaky glint in the man's eyes and guessed he would run if she cut him down. Drawing her bow she nocked an arrow and fired at the mans head, killing him, cutting down the rest webs she reached into his pocket, finding the claw. Putting it into her knapsack she headed deeper into the barrow in search for this "Dragonstone". About an hour later, of fighting draugr, she came upon a door.

With three rows of turning symbols and a key, in the shape of a claw, it looked like a door to the main chamber, she had read up on nordic burial grounds and in one of her books she read that they put puzzles infront of their main chambers. Taking the claw out she examined it and found three symbols on the bottom of it. Arranging the symbols on the door she pressed the claw into the empty slot and turned it, the door gave a shake, and fell into the ground. Stepping inside she saw a wall, carved in a strange language she couldn't understand, but one word.

_Fus, Unrelenting Force_, a voice in her head echoed as strong strands of light began infiltrating her skull, it burned, it hurt and she thought her very head would explode as the light entered. The light went away, as soon as it had appeared, Althel heard a noice behind her and soun around, finding a draugr, "This will be easy" Althel laughed to herself, that thought quickly changed.

The draugr sucked in its breath, and as loud as possible spoke in the tongue of dragons, "FUS RO DAH!" the draugr shouted, an Althel went flying across, to the other end of the room. "What… The hell was that!?" Althel shouted. Getting up she, drew her bow and put as many arrows in the draugr's body as possible, before it shouted those terrible words again, "FUS RO DAH!" it shouted, sending Althel flying back once more.

_This thing, it feels no pain… How can I kill it..? _Althel thought to herself. Getting up, she remembered something, _draugr are weak to fire_. Sheathing her bow she summoned a flame spell and ran towards the draugr. Lighting him on fire the draugr shrieked and cried at the feeling of his rotted flesh burning away, Althel once more light him on fire, killing him.

Searching the draugr's coffin she found an old stone, she guessed this was the Dragonstone, and put it in her knapsack. "If its not the Dragonstone, the Farengar can go up there on his own and get the damn thing." Althel spoke, opening the chest beside it, she found a sword, ancient like the ones the draugr owned but I gave off a strange glow, an icy glow.

**Hard to keep up with school, pregnant cat (Yes my cat is pregnant). I got my computer working so I no longer have to write on my ipad! YAY.**


	9. Dragon Sightings

**First of all, sorry I haven't posted in a long time, we have kittens, I have a school and I've been pretty busy as of late. Thanks for all the reviews you guys left, it's much appreciated. Sorry for any spelling mistakes autocorrect kinds screws things up sometimes, my computer doesn't want me to be able to write on it so it's back to the iPad.**

As Althel walked back on the road to Whiterun she dug the Dragonstone out of her pack and examined it, "Doesn't seem special at all, I don't know why Farengar wants this old rock but whatever." she whispered to herself, not knowing why she whispered, she laughed aloud, happy that she was alive after the draugr in Bleak Falls. Putting it in her pack she heard a voice, "You there, hand over all your valuables and I won't have to hurt you."Althel's hand went to her sword looking around for the person.

An Argonian, probably around his late thirties came up to her with his dagger pointing it at her neck. "Are you deaf woman? I said hand over your valuables!" This time with a angered tone.

"Please don't hurt me, I have no money!"Althel lied to the thief.

"Well you could give me something else..." The thief said, his hand curving around and sliding down Althel's waist "Get away from me!" Althel yelled in fear, she pulled out her sword and aimed a stab in thief's stomach. Althel's sword only slightly grazed him, just cutting a few leather ties, he swiftly swung his dagger and cut her in the arm, she winced in pain and felt the warm blood seeping out of the wound and onto her forearm. The thief then kicked her sword out of her hands and smiled knowing he would kill her. Althel thought for a second and grabbed and arrow from her quiver and waited until he charged again, _Here he comes_, she thought and thrust the arrow into his neck, killing him.

Leaning down she searched his pockets, found a few precious stones and 20 septims and headed back on the road to Whiterun after her near death experience.

A few hours later she headed into Farengar's laboratory and found him speaking to a woman, knocking lightly on the wall she spoke, "Here's your damn stone Farengar." She said, laying down the stone tablet on his desk.

Farengar looked up and a grin spread across his face, "Ah! You've returned, we were studying this book about-"

"I don't care about your book, so do I get a reward or something?" Althel interrupted him.

"You would have to see the jarl about that. Well thanks to our friend here we can study more about these dragons." He turned to the other woman, a serious look on his face.

"You went into Bleak Falls Barrow and got that? Nice work." The woman looked up at her.

"Farengar! A dragon has been sighted near the watchtower, you need to come at once!" Irileth spoke running into the room, with a mixed look of fear and exhaustion.

"A dragon, how exciting! Where was it last seen, what was it doing?" Farengar eagerly asked the exhausted housecarl, an excited glint in his eyes.

"This is serious Farengar, come upstairs at once." As they headed upstairs they saw a guardsman, he was out breath and breathing heavily.

"My lord, a dragon at the watchtower, it killed 2 men, burned the tower and flew away." the guard spoke.

"You are sure it was a dragon?" The jarl replied firmly. "Yes, sure as I am standing here right now." The guard spoke with a serious tone, "What do we do my lord?"

**Alright so sorry for not posting in awhile just been kinda busy, hope you enjoyed this chapter I enjoyed writing it. Sorry for the cliffhanger, I know I'm mean aren't I?  
Also, I do not exactly know the dialogue for this part so I'll just make it up, sorry.**


	10. The Dovahkiin

**Alrighty then, nothing to write here so let's get on with the story! Oh and thanks for the review TheGreatJabberyJamie, much appreciated!**

_Dragon? Whiterun is doomed, it's going to burn to ash_, Althel thought to herself remembering Helgen and the black spiked dragon and bow it had burned Helgen to the ground.

"So, Irileth tells me you came from the western watchtower?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Tell him what you told me. About the dragon." Irileth encouraged the guardsman

"Uh... that's right. We saw it coming from the south. It was fast... faster than anything I've ever seen!" The man said, clearly frightened.

"What did it do? Is it attacking the watchtower?" The Jarl asked.

"No, my Lord. It was just circling overhead when I left. I never ran so fast in my life... I thought it would come after me for sure."

"Good work, son. We'll take it from here. Head down to the barracks for some food and rest. You've earned it."

The guard saluted, then left, his shoulders sagging from exhaustion.

"Irileth, you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate."

"Good, don't fail me." Balgruuf said quietly, before he turned to Althel. "There's no time to stand on ceremony, my friend. I need your help again. I want you to go with Irileth and help her fight this dragon. You survived Helgen, so you have more experience fighting dragons than anyone else here.

"Yes, my Jarl."

"But I haven't forgotten the service you did for me in retrieving the Dragonstone for Farengar. As a token of my esteem, I have instructed Avenicci that you are now permitted to buy property in the city."

"With all due respect, Jarl. Now is not the time to worry about that." Althel spoke solemnly, with a fear in heart that she might not return from this battle.

"A fair point, friend." Jarl Balgruuf agreed.

"I should come along. I would very much like to see this dragon." Farengar said.

"No." The Jarl replied. "I can't afford to risk both of you. I need you here working on ways to defend the city against dragons."

"As you command." Farengar left, disappointed.

"One last thing, Irileth. This is not a death or glory mission. I need to know what we are dealing with."

"Don't worry, my Lord. I'm the very soul of caution." The Dark Elf replied.

Irileth led Althel out of the Keep and down to the barracks by the main gate. She took them down a back road, though the residential area of the upper class.

Four guardsmen were waiting, all of them armed and armoured.

"Here's the situation. A dragon is attacking the Western Watchtower." She paced back and forth before them.

"What?"

"A dragon?"

"Now we're in for it!"

The guardsmen looked astonished.

"You heard right! I said a dragon! I don't much care where it came from, or who sent it. But I do know it's made the mistake of attacking Whiterun!"

"But Housecarl... How can we fight a dragon?" One of the guardsmen, wearing an open faced helm, asked with a panicky voice.

"That's a fair question. None of us has ever seen a dragon before, or expected to face one in battle. But we are honour bound to stop it, even if we fail. This dragon is threatening our homes... our families! Could you call yourselves Nords if you ran from this monster? Are you going to let me face this thing alone?"

"No, Housecarl!"

"But it's more than our honor at stake here. Think of it - The first dragon seen in Skyrim since the last age! The glory of killing it is ours, if you're with me! Now what do you say? Shall we go kill us a dragon?" Ileth even made Althel feel it was possible.

"Yeah! Damn right!" The guards all agreed.

"Let's move out!" The Dunmer shouted.

The six of them marched out of the city, Irileth setting the pace at a brisk run. After leaving the walls, they turned west and went cross-country until they met up with the main road. Within minutes they spotted a towering pillar of smoke, which rose in a serpentine fashion out of the smouldering ruins of the watchtower.

As they got closer they could see great holes rent in the sides of the structure, the hunks laying strewn across the tundra. A bridge crossing a small stream was split in two, and a tree was on fire nearby.

Irileth motioned them all behind a large slab of rock, peering at the scene.

"No signs of any dragon right now, but it sure looks like he's been here." She turned to address her men. "I know it looks bad, but we've got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still skulking around somewhere. Spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we are dealing with." She ordered.

As Althel approached the tower cautiously, she drew her bow and nocked and arrow. She saw a man and sped up her pace towards him.

"No! Get back, it's still here somewhere! Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it."

"You, Wood Elf, head up to the top and see if you can spot anything." Irileth motioned towards Althel with her hand "And for you, rest for now."

Althel walked up the steps and when she was halfway up she heard a heart wrenching screech. "Kyneareth save us! Here he comes again!" the guard yelled out.

Althel peeked out a window that looked over the mountains that housed bleak falls and she saw it. A dark shape flying towards them, ready to kill with its razor sharp claws and burning breath. "Everybody get down!" Irileth ordered the men, "Make every arrow count!"

Running back downstairs Althel looked up in time to see a large shape pass over her head and she saw a flurry of arrows fly towards it, onky a few hitting their mark.

Quickly aiming she fired at the dragon over and over until it came at her, breath burning. Rolling out of the way she dropped her bow, and it got burnt up "No!" Althel cried out as she saw it burn to ash. Lighting a fire spell in her hands she fired at the dragon until it shook in midair, off balance, it tried to regain flight but it's wing was too damaged and crashed into the ground with such and impact it shook the earth and knocked everyone down. Althel charged at the dragon, flame spell burning away, pulling out her dagger she hopped in the dragons head, striking it multiple times in the eye, it felt like hours until the dragon stopped writhing around, Althel slipped off the dragons head and walked over to Irileth, "You... owe me some mead." Althel laughed. A sound, like burning started and Irileth looked at the dragon, "Everyone get back!" But Althel was drawn to it, and tiny strands of light started entering her body, but this time she welcomed it. She felt a strange sense of power in her mind, and the word she had found in bleak falls emerged, _Fus. _Force.

"You're... Dragonborn."

Hope you enjoyed, leave a review on anything I need to improve! This took forever to write.


	11. Riften

**So tedious writing these chapters on my iPad... Oh well, on with the story. Sorry I haven't posted in awhile kittens are at that age where they are a pain to take care of.**

As Althel walked the steps up to Dragonsreach she felt the ground shake violently under her feet and heard a loud blast followed by a voice, "_DOVAHKIIN!_"

"What the hell was that?!" Althel shouted out, to nobody in particular. "It came from the mountain!" "By the gods!" There was much confusion after the event, and Althel quickly climbed up to Dragonsreach.

Walking up to the jarl he seemed excited, "Was the dragon there?" Jarl Balgruuf asked her.

"Yes and we killed it. Although it destroyed the watchtower" Althel replied.

"Thank you, for your services I name you Thane of Whiterun, it is the highest honor that is within my power to grant."

"Thank you my Jarl." In the following hour the jarl and his court argued if she was Dragonborn or not, they argued until the Jarl became frustrated and turned to Althel with a sigh, "That noise, when you walked here. That was the Greybeards calling you to High Hrothgar. If you really are Dragon born they will teach you to use your gift"

"Where is this High Hrothgar?" Althel asked him.

"High up on the slopes of The Throat of the World, I advise going to Ivarstead immediately."

"Thank you Jarl." Balgruuf nodded and whispered under his breath, "The Greybeards..."

Althel walked down the steps and leaned against one of the wood pillars and pulled out her map, she found Ivarstead on it and decided it would be best to take a carriage to Riften and walk from there. She headed out of the town and walked up to the carriage driver "Riften please." He looked at her and said, "Certainly, 50 septims, and when we get there I advise protecting your money, Riften is the home of the-" he was cut off by the agitated voice of the Bosmer woman, "Yeah yeah I know now can we please get going?" "Yes sorry."

A few hours later she arrived at Riften and decided she would head off tomorrow and stay at the Bee and Barb.

Walking up to the gate she was stopped by a guard, "There is a fee for the privilege of entering the city, 100 septims."

"What? That's ridiculous!" Althel told him, and caught the mans eye looking at her coin purse, "Your a thief, I'm not paying a damned septim to you." The man sighed and said, "Fine fine but be quiet or I'll get in trouble.

Opening the gate the man tapped Althel's shoulder and she turned around to see a fist flying at her face. Unable to react quickly enough it struck her and she fell to the ground, out cold.

**Ok I know this chapter is super short but lately I have kinda lost interest in skyrim for some reason so let me know if you want me to either discontinue this story or keep going with it, I really would like to get back into skyrim but I've played so many other good games that it is no longer fun sometimes. Remember that this story isn't going to match the actually events in skyrim because I know you don't get attacked once you enter Riften but I like to add my own things so just remember that. Also half the time I can't remember all the dialogue between characters so I make up my own lol.**


	12. Escape from prison

**Well, I accidently forgot Lydia lol I'll fix that in a later chapter... Sorry haven't played for awhile so I forgot a lot of stuff.**

Pain. The only sensation that Althel felt to know she was alive, it filled her head and she thought if there was anymore her skull would split in half. Opening her eyes she found that she was in a dark room and that she was leaning against a stone wall. Reaching for her dagger she found that it was missing.

"Damnit.. What am I supposed to do now?" As her eyes adjusted to the light she found a tray of food containing bread and mead, grabbing the bread she ate it slowly thinking about what had happened, she pissed off the thief that's for sure. Her eyes, now fully adjusted saw that she wasn't in the Riften jail, _where am I_? She thought to herself as she finished the bread.

"I suppose I'll just wait down here." She found a hay pile and laid her head on it and fell asleep.

Five days, five days had passed in the cell and Althel was going mad, she had repeated shouted and clawed at the wall, her throat was sore and her fingers rubbed raw, she wanted out, sitting down she started crying, knowing she was stuck down here for the rest of her life, eating stale bread and shitty mead.

"Prisoner, your food. Eat up." the guard said to her, but his voice was different than the last times... It seemed, familiar.

"Thanks asshole." she spat.

"Damn, don't know why you'd be pissed at your friend Ralof." he chuckled.

"Ralof? What are you doing down here?" said Althel, shocked.

"Why, to help my friend of course, come on then let's get you out of here." Ralof told her.

"Um, yeah okay, didn't expect you to be here," Althel said getting up walking over to the door."

"Yeah me neither but your friends here found a letter from my sister and sent her a message to pay them 5000 septims for your release. She told me and I headed off here to come pick you up, they aren't getting their money though." Ralof told Althel as her unlocked her cell door.

"How did you get the key for my cell?" Althel asked him.

"Some things are better left unknown." he replied.

"Ah, I see."

All of her stuff back she walked out of the prison and found herself in the town of Riften, "Ah beautiful, the town of Riften, pretty trees, thieves and most importantly the smell of fish, what's not to love" Althel said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know, anyway I suppose the Dragonborn should get on their way to High Hrothgar and meet the old Greybeards."

Ralof replied. "You knew?"

Althel asked, puzzled. "Of course I do, the whole of Riverwood knows, The might Dragonborn Althel Nightshade defeating the dragon at Whiterun!" Ralof laughed.

Althel punched him in the shoulder and laughed.

"I suppose I should get going now. Thank you I don't know how I can repay you." she told him.

"Ow.. That hurt, defeat those dragons and that'll be payment enough. Ralof said.

"You big wimp." Althel said walking off towards the inn.

"Um, Althel, the gates that way."

"I know, who says a woman can't enjoy some fresh bread and black briar mead?"

Hours later Althel was sitting in the middle of the woods, halfway to Ivarstead she decided to take a break and eat something, one venison steak and some wine, finishing up she got up and headed back on the path to Ivarstead.

Shortly after, she saw a dark orange shape in the middle of the road, _Sabre cat. _

**Ok hope you enjoyed I really liked writing this one because I could do whatever I want, I enjoy doing that. Anyway, ratings and reviews appreciated and I'll see you next chapter.**


	13. Mysterious Man

**Ok sorry I haven't posted in awhile, Im kinda getting back into skyrim so yeah. It's currently 1am as I'm writing this so don't blame me for mistakes lol. Also I have a laptop now.. Hopefully this one will work.**

Walking out of the Riften gates Althel pulled out her map, she located Ivarstead and started making her way to the town. "Long way away, probably be a days travel." Althel said looking over the map, rolling it back up she placed it in her pack and started off.

"You son of a bitch!" Althel yelled in rage as the arrow pierced her leg.

"Time to die elf! Your kind doesn't belong here!" The bandit yelled at her.

Just then a loud screeching sound tore through the air.

A shake so intense knocked all to their feet, "What the hell is that thing?" Althel yelled looking up she saw a beast, it was like a dragon but it looked like a snake.. A man was on its neck commanding the large beast. "Are you Althel Nightshade?" The mysterious man spoke.

"Depends. Who's asking?"

" You see I have completed your mission already... Alduin is dead."

"Who is Alduin? Who the hell are you?" Althel was afraid, whoever this man was, he was very powerful, he could control dragons.

"Alduin, The World Eater. Remember that day in Helgen when that dragon attacked? That was Alduin, you are the Dovahkiin, The Last Dragonborn. Your mission was to kill him and save Nirn. Too bad you didn't. You have failed."

Fear. The only emotion that Althel could feel. She remembered the horrible day. The fire, the screams... She couldn't think straight. "Leave me alone! Your a madman."

"Fine then.. See you in Oblivion!"

The man tapped the dragon in the neck and it flew up and starting breathing flames.

"Oh my gods what do I do.. I have an arrow in my leg and I can't move."

**Well, plot twist much? Anyway, so I wasn't really enjoying following the main storyline so I added this little plot twist and now the story will be mostly custom from now on, just like it better. Reviews appreciated.**


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